Carousel presented a truly mixed bag from an evidently talented cast, but the production left audience members wanting that little bit more at times.
When I arrived at the Bloomsbury Theatre on Thursday evening for the opening performance of UCL Musical Theatre Society’s rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. All I really knew about the original production was its controversial portrayal of domestic violence. By the end of the night, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the production. Indeed, the play’s director, Alexis Rendel, has much to be proud of.
The opening scene, a silent montage of the carousel after which the play is named, was very well choreographed. However, throughout the sequence some actors looked slightly unsure about their positionality. I’ll put this down to first night jitters. There was also perhaps too much going on all at once, though I rather enjoyed the chaos. This organised pandemonium was characteristic of all the collective musical numbers in the production. The production’s choreography certainly had a clear and exciting vision. On the whole, all such collective sequences were enjoyable to watch, but some actors certainly lacked fluidity in movement. This didn’t massively impact the production, though it did perhaps hamper the fruition of some moments of true glory.
One thing I cannot fault about the opening scene – nor throughout the entire production for that matter –was the music. The orchestra in the pit at the front of the stage put in a phenomenal shift, rescuing some scenes from awkward breaks and dicey dialogue. The orchestra’s synchronicity with the happenings on stage was testament to their excellent musical ability, and some fantastic work by the conductor.
Carousel’s plot follows the relationship between Billy Bigelow, a carousel barker played by Patrick Graham, and Julie Jordan, a local millworker played by Charlotte Watson. Whilst I shan’t go into much detail of the storyline itself (it is very ‘of its time’, having been initially written as a play by Ferenc Molnár in 1909, and adapted into a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1945), the set design’s beautiful simplicity engendered a wonderful canvas unto which the actors could project the complex tale of love, violence and betrayal with elegant grandeur. This was achieved to a great degree by both Watson and Graham in their rendition of “If I Loved You”, with both actors’ voices filling the stage and auditorium with subtle magnificence and splendour. This was a common theme of the production, with the musical numbers really being the highlight of the show (it is a musical after all).
The biggest issue with the production, however, was the dialogue in between songs. At times, the interchange between characters felt clunky, and moments of great comedic virtue were left unappreciated by the fault of line delivery. The play is set in Maine, a state in Northeastern America, though the accents really did not ring true to this. Nearly all actors – with the notable exceptions of Alice Coombe as Nettie Fowler and Jonah McDonald as Enoch Snow – consistently dropped back into their native accents during moments of dialogue. The supposed American accents sounded more like a mix of the elocutions found in tones of Londoners and Glaswegians. Unfortunately, the static dialogue and unconvincing accents failed to produce a holistically fantastic performance.
Moreover, the pacing of the production at times felt uneven, and certainly didn’t assist the actors in averting such static moments of dialogue. I shan’t blame the production team for this, as I am convinced that it was more a fault of the play’s original script than anything else, though it still didn’t help with the choppiness of discourse between characters outside of musical numbers.
Regardless of these shortcomings, as a Liverpool fan, I couldn’t help but marvel at Alice Coombes’ delivery of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. As perhaps alluded to prior, I was also particularly entertained by Jonah McDonald’s performance as Enoch Snow, an ambitious fisherman whose comedic romance with Carrie Pipperidge (played by Anastasia Hotchin) pulled on some very particular comedic strings. Out of all the relations in the play, that of Snow and Pipperidge was by far the best portrayed. McDonald’s comedic delivery coupled with Hotchin’s brilliant portrayal of Pipperdige’s eccentrically varying dispositions was adept, and their synergy was acutely evident.
The greatest part of the play was the fantastic ballet sequence performed by Patrick Graham alongside Tallulah Hamilton Barr as Billy Bigelow’s daughter, Louise. Whilst the theological implications of the scene were troubling, the execution of the highly complex routine by Graham, Hamilton Barr and Jago Cahill Patton as Enoch Snow Jr (Louise’s friend / romantic interest) was nothing short of spectacular. In the scene, Billy Bigelow, having killed himself after a heist goes wrong, meets his daughter for the first time when returning to Earth from purgatory. This moment was by far the most emotionally charged of the night. The performance of Hamilton Barr cannot be understated, it was remarkable and certainly moved audience members. If there is any reason to see this production, the ballet is certainly it.
The closing scene was also a sight to behold, and great credit must be given to UCL Stage Crew. The appearance of Billy Bigelow above the ensemble after Louise’s graduation ceremony was astounding, and made sure the production ended on a high note.
Overall, this production was a success. It was truly marvellous at times, and the quality of performers on stage was second to none. Saying this, the dialogue and ensemble movements left me slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, I implore musical theatre fans to watch the production and give their own verdict on the matter.
Carousel is being played in the Bloomsbury Theatre until 1 March. Get your tickets here.
